Nov. 19, 2018 show This fall marks the first semester for new students attending Catholic or other private schools on the Tax Credit Scholarship program signed into law just over a year ago. We hear about the impact from Jon Priest, assistant principal of Our Lady of Charity School in Cicero, and parent Laura Garcia. Next, Glenn Van Cura, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet, talks about the re-entry house the organization will open in the spring for former ...
The Illinois political landscape changed dramatically with yesterday's general election, as Democrat J.B. Pritzker will take office as governor in January. Perhaps just as important, however, will be the huge influx of new faces to the legislature due to a vast retirement of lawmakers whose seats were often won by Democrats. The so-called “blue wave” washed over the Illinois General Assembly yesterday, as both the House and Senate will each have more than ...
The six Catholic dioceses of Illinois issued the following statements regarding a lawsuit filed today by attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman on behalf of alleged sexual abuse victim-survivors from some Illinois dioceses. The Catholic Conference of Illinois was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. We have no comment and refer questions to the respective dioceses. Archdiocese of Chicago statement may be found here. Diocese of Rockford statement
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced in a press release that she would contact all of the Catholic dioceses in the state as a follow-up to the release this week of the Pennsylvania grand jury report outlining sexual abuse allegations against more than 300 priests in that state over 70 years and affecting more than 1,000 victims. "The Catholic Church has a moral obligation to provide its parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of ...
Less than a week after a Pennsylvania grand jury issued a report outlining a litany of sex abuse allegations against priests during the past 70 years, Pope Francis today released a letter in response, writing, "we showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." In the letter that is translated into multiple languages on the Vatican's website, Pope Francis writes, "With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we ...
Several of Illinois' Catholic bishops recently released statements regarding sex abuse allegations made public earlier this week in a Pennsylvania grand jury report, following on the heels of news of credible claims made against retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C. The Pennsylvania grand jury report details allegations going back 70 years involving more than 300 priests and more than 1,000 victims. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York in June announced that after being notified of allegations against ...
Pope Francis orders change in Catechism making death penalty "inadmissible"
Pope Francis today nixed the death penalty in all cases by ordering a revision in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that states the final punishment is "inadmissible." The change in paragraph 2267 also updates the language to describe the death penalty as an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” Pope Francis has spoken out against capital punishment before, noting in October 2017 that the ...
Catholics from across the state today joined an Environmental Lobby Day at the Illinois Capitol sponsored by the Illinois Environmental Council, Sierra Club and Faith in Place. Participants asked lawmakers to sponsor a resolution honoring Pope Francis' 2015 ground-breaking encyclical Laudato Si', as well as support legislation creating a program for low-income residents to get access to clean, affordable water in light of the recent water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
